The Pedal Lab

 
Hello fellow tone junkies! Our new interview section kicks off with AnalogMan founder Mike Piera. I would be surprised if you haven’t heard of AnalogMan, but just in case you haven’t: AnalogMan is a boutique pedal maker whose pedal mods have been used by Trey Anastasio, John Mayer, Buckethead, Dan Auerbach and more. AnalogMan doesn’t simply make and mod pedals – they also rebuild, repair, buy and sell vintage effects. Check out their website and buy up some of their beautiful pedals at http://www.buyanalogman.com. Much thanks to Mike for his words and his time.

The Pedal Lab: What was the first pedal you owned?

AnalogMan: Maestro Phaser MP wedge series made by MOOG, still have it!

TPL: How did you get started working on pedals — did you start with mods or custom pedals?

AM: I started with cloning vintage pedals that were not available, the first was a Sam Ash fuzz, same as the Astrotone. But the TS9 mods were what got me going, when I was the first to offer those mods.

TPL: What was the first pedal you sold?

AM: Our Chorus pedal was the first pedal we built and sold. This was when Nirvana was huge and EHX did not make reissues yet. That was back in ’98, and I think the first batch of ten used the Reticon SAD1024 chip them. We used the chip that EXH used on the later Small Clones, the Panasonic MN3007.

TPL: What is currently on your workbench?

AM: Trying to get an old EXH Guitar Synthesizer (rack, not the Micro Synth) working as a well known collector wants to buy it from me.

TPL: You have made custom pedals used by many big name guitarists — any exciting or memorable experiences you’d want to share?

AM: It really makes me happy when I see one of our pedals used by a high profile player who I didn’t sell one to directly. Recent cases of this were John Mayer (small comp) and Keith Urban (Juicer). We don’t send free pedals out to everyone famous like some other manufacturers. We usually wait for them to come to us unless I really admire a player and have the perfect pedal for him or her. Also very excited to be working with John Petrucci lately — just in time for his Guitar Player cover article!

TPL: How do you think the rise in boutique pedal makers changes music creation? What does it mean for the musician, but also how does it affect you as a builder?

AM: I hear a lot more interesting sounds; for example, St. Vincent (though I think I could help improve the tone in some live performances I have heard!!). As a builder I have to differentiate Analog Man from the other companies by keeping the highest standards and making pedals that people want and can’t really get elsewhere.

TPL: Do you have any new pedal developments on the way?

AM: Oh yes!!!! But I don’t like hype so we try not to announce pedals until there is a BUY IT NOW button on our website. But we have an OD, Dist, and Fuzz that are ready soon.

TPL: Do you currently play in a band?

AM: Yes, I am lucky to have two neighbors (drummer and keyboard/guitarist/singer) that love to play . We found a ringer bass player from Berkeley nearby. We mostly practice a lot and have at least 50 songs that we can play. I’m not much of a lead guitarist so I like to have guests play with us. We’ve had Sid McGinnis (P. Gabriel/Letterman), Andy Powell (Wishbone Ash) and Jim Weider (The Band) sit in (most recently all on the same night!) — and I have a few more lined up! Nothing makes me happier than playing good music with good friends, and playing with some amazing musicians.

TPL: What does your pedal board look like right now?

AM: Just about every pedal we make, plus Mini Jimi, an old Phase-90 and a modified VOX wah. Lately I love stacking the Juicer and/or Bad Bob into other pedals, for a nice cutting semi-clean sound. It’s like the crappy old tube amps that we all love. I also use pedals for my vocals (TC Harmony-G and trying TC Voicelive Touch recently). Along with 3 live vocals, the TC gives us insane harmonies.

Oh hey, we’re on Facebook now! Check out our page. It’s a great place for you all to suggest artists for us to to a Tone Lab on, an Article you’d like us to research, or if you just want to chat with us.

Keep an eye out for more new developments with TPL (we have plenty more up our sleeves)!

We hope you like our new look. We’ve built a whole new site for TPL (which is currently uploading to our brand new server). We’re going to open up some new content areas — as well as revisit some old ones. I know it seems like we stopped posting, but we have just been held up with growing pains. We have been hard at work trying to figure out how to bring you the best site possible. Great new things are on the horizon!

We here at The Pedal Lab want to thank all of you dedicated readers. This site started out as something to do to pass slow work days, but it has grown much more than we had imagined. We regularly see higher and higher  numbers in terms of views. We’ve received dozens of requests for gear reviews, Tone Labs, and topics for articles. You, the readers, have made this an incredible experience and a task worth continuing.